Handing over of the Jayam Wijayaratnam Cancer Care Centre to the Health Ministry

“It was my husband’s dream to build a hospital for cancer patients in Negombo. We lived in Colombo, as I still do, but spent much time in Negombo. What Jayam noted was the absence of such a hospital or even OPD services between Maharagama and Puttalam, a distance of more than 150 km. Hence his dream of donating a fully built hospital for cancer patients. Very unfortunately Jayam died suddenly on January 18, 2013.”

On July 8, 2022, the late Jayam Wijayaratnam’s altruistic dream came true; his wife Yogeswari with Trustees – Radhika Coomaraswamy and Kavan Ratnayaka of the Jayam Wijayaratnm Trust – handed over the fully built and functional hospital and care centre to Health Ministry Secretary – Mr Janaka Sri Chandragupta who had signed the MoU; Director General of Health Services – Dr Asela Gunawardena and Director, Colombo North Teaching Hospital – Dr Sampath Ranaweera who would be Director of the J W Cancer Care Centre. Present also were architect of the Centre – C Anjalendran and Contractor – L B Ranjit; and Oncologist Dr Sujeewa Siyambalapitiya who would be in charge of the Centre; plus invitees.

The handing over ceremony started at 10 a m with Yoga welcoming all present and also thanking everyone involved in the project. A symbolic brass key on a wooden base was handed over by Yoga to the three medical personnel, and received by Dr Ranaweera. Mr Janaka Sri Chandragupta and Dr Asela Gunawardena addressed the gathering on behalf of the Ministry of Health and medical personnel present, thanking Yoga and others who worked and bequeathed this excellent hospital. Architect Anjalendran thanked all those who dedicatedly worked on site and built the hospital he designed, more particularly Builder Ranjith and Supervisor Nisantha. Radhika Coomaraswamy proposed the vote of thanks after which refreshments were served and visitors walked around the building.

Yoga told me when I visited the site with her when it was nearing completion in January 2022 that she had gone to the health authorities in Negombo with her proposal but it was the Ragama Health Officers who had gladly accepted her generosity and facilitated the project becoming a reality by offering her a good block of land on Siriwardhena Road, Ragama.

The J W Cancer Care Centre is unique and totally functional, a modern hospital in a village setting as noted by C Anjalendran, the day I visited the site. Being a rural hospital was fulfilling a requirement of the country. “Patients should be able to see the sky even when they lie abed, and enjoy a subtle feeling of freedom. So this was an overriding principle in the design. This hospital is unconventional in its shape too; it is not a perfect rectangle as most hospitals are. It takes the shape of the site on which it is built. A large open courtyard emphasizes the airiness and sense of not being closed in.”

The completed hospital is just this and has the added features of plants growing healthy in its central courtyard and around it. The wards are not of the usual pattern. They are broken up into rooms accommodating eight patients each with adjoining fine toilets and bathrooms. These ‘wards’ are on the two sides of the central court and replicated on the first floor. Restrooms for the medical and nursing staff are plentifully provided. Nurses living quarters have been constructed on the premises.

Yoga told me soon after the handing over that she insisted an auditorium be included in the building. “It is to conduct awareness programmes among other meetings since cancer can be cured if detected early enough. Local people and from distances can be invited to awareness creating programmes. A ward has been reserved for palliative care of terminally ill patients and so a family member of each patient is also given accommodation in the ward.” These are additional boons offered in memory of a wonderful person – Jayam Wijayaratnam – since

“An individual doesn’t get cancer, a family does”

“My fervent hope is that the hospital will be maintained well.” This Yoga was insistent about. From what we have heard about most hospitals now, maintenance hygienically and with concern for patients is given attention.In these tumultuous times caused principally by self-serving, corrupt politicians, this endowment to the Ministry of Health on behalf of cancer patients, thought of by the late Jayam Wijayaratnman and accomplished by Yogeswari Wijayaratnman assisted by others, is a heart warming beam of joy and hope

“Philanthropy isn’t all about money; it’s about feeling the pain of others and caring enough about their needs, to help.”(Timothy Pina).